Toshiba is quite far along when it comes to large autostereoscopic 3D displays. After all, it raised the curtain on the world’s first glasses-free 3D TVs as recently as October at the Ceatec electronics show in Tokyo; two of those TVs have since been launched in Japan. So it should surprise absolutely no one if Tosh also secures the bragging rights for unveiling the first notebook capable of spitting “dead-zone free stereoscopic 3D images” without the need for any special glasses.

The company is about to do precisely that at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Apparently, the glasses-free notebook prototype it's bringing to CES wears the familiar Qosmio badge and combines eye-tracking technology with a parallax 3D LCD display to create the glasses-less 3D effect. The company is targeting an end of the year release for the 3D Qosmio.

Consumer electronics vendors are currently busy burying the public consciousness under an avalanche of 3D products, but what’s next? It is probably too early to ask that question as another wave of 3D gadgets and gizmos looms. We are talking about 3D of the glasses- and deadzone-free variety.

“Regardless of location, the viewers will be able to perceive 3D images of equally high quality. Not only will there be better 3D images to see, the audience will also feel much more comfortable not having to be confined by viewing angles.”

Not only do AUO’s 3D panels support simultaneous operation of both 2D and 3D modes, but can also switch back and forth between the two.

There has been an addition to the list of upcoming autostereoscopic (glasses-free 3D) devices. The latest addition is of the portable variety. Supernova X1 is a 3D-capable tablet prototype that does not rely on 3D glasses for its mojo. Engadget's Chinese site was the first to get a glimpse of this tablet prototype from China's Rockchip.

However, not a lot is known about the Supernova X1 at this point in time apart from the fact that the glasses-free 3D effect can be adjusted (or even disabled) in much the same way as the Nintendo 3DS. Rockchip will unveil this tablet at the upcoming IFA 2010 event in Germany.

There's too much at stake in the emerging 3D market to let one company steal the spotlight, and so Sony joins Toshiba in trying to be the first (and best) to deliver 3D television sets that don't require donning a pair of special glasses.

"Seeing 3D without glasses is more convenient," Sony Senior Vice President Yoshihisa Ishida said Thursday at Tokyo headquarters. "We must take account of pricing before we can think about when to start offering them."

And therein lies the biggest hurdle. 3D technology is expensive enough as it is -- Sony just launched a line of 3D Bravia HDTVs that starts out at $3,000 (46 inches) -- and when you throw glasses-free technology into the mix, well, be prepared to get kicked in the wallet.

There's also the question of how effective this first-gen technology will be. Both Sony and Toshiba are likely to implement some kind of parallax barrier technology similar to the one being used on Nintendo's upcoming 3DS console, but they'll have to figure out how to widen the viewing angle to accommodate more than one viewer who plops himself in the sweet spot.